Tips for Families

Turks love kids, making travel with one a delight for all involved. And kids seem to love scrambling around ancient ruins, exploring underground cisterns (especially the ones with water in them); kids even get carried away in the Grand Bazaar. Almost all tourist services (hotels, ferryboats) offer some kind of discount for children, usually 50% of the full price for children 6 to 12, while kids under 6 generally get loads of freebies. Unfortunately, this discount does not apply to admission tickets to museums and sites for preteens.

You'll save a load of dough thanks to the Turkish tradition of providing breakfast with the room. Many hotels catering to the seaside vacationer offer (or automatically include) breakfast and dinner (called "half-board"); kids usually get the same reduced rate in this case as well.

Recommended family-travel websites include Family Travel Forum (www.familytravelforum.com), a comprehensive site that offers customized trip planning; Family Travel Network (www.familytravelnetwork.com), an online magazine providing travel tips; and TravelWithYourKids.com (www.travelwithyourkids.com), a comprehensive site written by parents for parents offering sound advice for long-distance and international travel with children.